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Imagery

Theme Sponsor

Intergovernmental Committee on Surveying and Mapping (ICSM)

Description

Imagery is derived from sensor technologies used to detect, locate, classify and record objects relative to the surface of the Earth. This includes data sourced from satellite, airborne sensors and terrestrial cameras. It includes but is not limited to orthorectified multispectral, hyper spectral and panchromatic sensors. Raw data is collected from a satellite or airborne mission and then processed and orthorectified to remove tilt, terrain, atmospheric and other image distortions

Description

Imagery is the output derived from the use of sensor technologies to detect, locate, classify and record objects relative to the surface of the Earth.

This includes data sourced from satellite, airborne and terrestrial sensors and cameras having a range of capabilities. It includes, but is not limited to, orthorectified multispectral, hyperspectral, laser and radar data. Land cover is derived from imagery.

Datasets

Low Resolution (>80m),High Temporal Coverage (>weekly) - This imagery has been collected at the National level since the 1970s and includes MODIS, AVHRR, VIIRS sensors carried on satellites which capture image data at specific frequencies across the electromagnetic spectrum.

Medium Resolution (>10–80m), Medium Temporal Coverage (Weekly-Monthly) - This imagery has been collected at the National level since 1979 and includes MSS, TM, ETM+, Aster and OLI sensors carried on satellites which capture image data at specific frequencies across the electromagnetic spectrum.

High Spatial Resolution (>2.5–10m), Low Temporal Coverage (>Quarterly) - This imagery has been collected at a Local / Regional level since 1998, Regional level since 2005 and National level since 2009 and includes data obtained from SPOT, ALOS and HyMap sensors carried on satellites which capture image data at specific frequencies across the electromagnetic spectrum.

Very High Resolution (<2.5 m), Very Low Temporal Coverage (>annual) - This is airborne imagery that has been collected at a National level from 1947–1988 and at Regional and Urban levels since the 1970s.

Purpose

Imagery provides an analytical source and contextual background for decision making and supports multiple applications including:

Current Status

MODIS data (on Terra and Aqua satellites) covering the whole Australian continent since 2000, is collected four times daily.

AVHRR data also covers the whole Australian continent twice daily and a single continent coverage is collected using VIIRS.

Collectively there are seven snapshots of low resolution data being captured daily over the Australian continent. These can be sourced from Geoscience Australia and CSIRO, and in the case of AVHRR-VIIRS also from the Bureau of Meteorology.

Medium resolution data at medium temporal coverage consist of imagery from different generation of sensors on board of US, India, China satellites.

The Landsat series of satellites provides the longest and most comprehensive datasets since the late 1970’s, the earliest being ERTS, MSS, TM, ETM+ and latest OLI.

Data from the ETM+ and OLI sensors are currently still being acquired every sixteen days, covering the whole Australian continent every couple of months.

Historic MSS and TM imagery is available over Australia from Geoscience Australia.

Archival Aster imagery and close to 2500 scenes of hyperspectral Hyperion data is also available from Geoscience Australia and CSIRO. High spectral and spatial resolution hyperspectral imagery are available for multiple sites across Australia:

The data are acquired by the HyMap and various other sensors (SpecIm Eagle/Hawk, NEO-HySpex, etc.) and are available under various commercial licences

The TERN AusCover program in CSIRO has also collected airbone imagery over eight Supersites, which is freely available under creative commons with attribution licensing conditions

CSIRO is currently putting together a geo-database to capture available data and ownership/licencing agreements

There are currently no long-term programs to systematically acquire hyperspectral data. Data are collected as required for different projects..

Very high resolution at very low temporal imagery acquired by airborne sensors is available from different State government agencies, Geoscience Australia and the Australian Archives. This access depends on the geographic location of the imagery and the time frame it was captured. For example; NSW LPI and/or GA would be the agencies to inquiry with if you are looking for imagery acquired over a region in NSW 2010. If it is imagery between 1948 – 1988 then the Australian Archives would be the place to inquire.

Future Status

In the low resolution at high temporal imagery range the Himawari geostationary satellite will provide additional coverage over Australia every 10 minutes post 2015.

Additional medium resolution data will be available through the Sentinel satellites due to be launched by the European Space Agency as part of their Copernicus programme post 2014. The European Space Agency will launch the Sentinel-2 satellite in mid-late 2014, providing similar resolution multispectral data, as well as Sentinel-1 synthetic aperture radar data at these resolutions. The European Space Agency will launch the Sentinel-3 satellite in late 2014, providing similar resolution multispectral data.

In the next 5 years, at least 5 satellite hyperspectral sensors will be launched and at least another 5 in the next 10 years. Below is a table showing the different hyperspectral missions and status.

The licensing arrangement of very high resolution imagery/photography is dependent on the source and geographic coverage of the data.

Archival photography from the Australian Archives is available under CC BY licence.

In instances where Geoscience Australia has bought the IP of the data, normally this data is released under CC BY.

Data captured by State government agencies is subject to their licencing arrangements.

CSIRO owns some of the historical hyperspectral data. Others are under various licencing agreements. CSIRO are currently putting together a geo-database to capture available data and ownership/licencing agreements. Specs can be provided if required.

Airborne data supplied by State and Territory government bodies are provided under specific licence agreements listed on suppliers web sites.

Current Status

AVHRR data also covers the whole Australian continent twice daily and a single continent coverage is collected using VIIRS

Collectively there are five snapshots of low resolution data being captured daily over the Australian continent. These can be sourced from Geoscience Australia and CSIRO.

Future Status

The European Space Agency will launch the Sentinel-3 satellite in late 2014, providing similar low-resolution multispectral data. In the low resolution but at high temporal imagery range the Himawari geostationary satellite will provide additional coverage over Australia every 10 minutes post 2015.

Description

These data sets have a spatial resolution between 10–80 m and are collected on a weekly to monthly basis. They are the most commonly used category of imagery data.

For several decades the Landsat series of satellites have provided the majority of medium resolution optical imagery for operational programs in Australia. Data is derived from MSS, TM, ETM+, Aster, OLI, Sentinel-2 MSI missions and includes the following spectral ranges, VIS, NIR, SWIR, PAN.

Medium resolution optical sensors have traditionally been operated for public good, although the number of commercial sensors is increasing.

Purpose

Imagery provides an analytical source and contextual background for decision making and supports multiple applications including:

Mineralogical information derived from EO data used as precompetitive data at Geological Surveys

Current Status

Medium resolution data at medium temporal coverage consist of imagery from different generation of sensors on board of the Landsat series of satellites (i.e., earliest being MSS, TM, ETM+ and latest OLI).

Data from the ETM+ and OLI sensors are currently still being acquired every eight days, covering the whole Australian continent every couple of months

Historic MSS and TM imagery is available over Australia from Geoscience Australia

Archival Aster imagery is also available from Geoscience Australia and CSIRO

Future Status

Additional medium resolution data will be available through the Sentinel satellites due to be launched by the European Space Agency as part of their Copernicus programme post 2014.

Version

Description

These data sets have a spatial resolution of between 2.5-10 m and provide national coverage every quarter. They are primarily operated by Jurisdictions and/or commercial enterprises.

There are an increasing number of these sensors available for both satellite and airborne platforms and an ever-expanding range of applications that use them. The data derived from SPOT from 2005 to Present and ALOS from 2009/2010 is identified as the primary data within this data set.

Purpose

Imagery provides an analytical source and contextual background for decision making and supports multiple applications including:

Current Status

SPOT imagery is available under whole of government commercial licence from Geoscience Australia and different State government agencies.

The Australian Geographic Reference Image (AGRI), a static ALOS mosaic of the Australian continent, is available from Geoscience Australia.

CSIRO holds various collections of hyperspectral airborne data acquired by the HyMap and various other sensors (CASI-ITRES, SpecIm Eagle/Hawk, NEO-HySpex, etc.)

The licencing agreements vary. HyMap and other hyperspectral data providers also hold collects of hyperspectral data which are available under various commercial licence.

Future Status

Airborne hyperspectral data are currently available from various data providers; e.g. HyVista, DiMap, University Adelaide. There are currently no long term programs to systematically acquire hyperspectral data.

Very High Spatial Resolution (<2.5m), Very Low Temporal Coverage (>annual)

Description

An orthophoto is an aerial photograph geometrically corrected (“orthorectified”) to ensure the scale is uniform: the photo has the same lack of distortion as a map. Unlike an uncorrected aerial photograph, an orthophotograph can be used to measure true distances, because it is an accurate representation of the Earth’s surface, having been adjusted for topographic relief, lens distortion, and camera tilt. The image has been corrected to ensure that horizontal scale is constant

These data sets have a spatial resolution of 2.5m or closer and are primarily operated by Jurisdictions and/or commercial enterprises.

There are an increasing number of these sensors available for both satellite and airborne platforms and an ever-expanding range of applications that use them.

Purpose

Imagery provides an analytical source and contextual background for decision making and supports multiple applications including:

Current Status

Very high resolution at very low temporal imagery acquired by airborne sensors is available from different State government agencies, Geoscience Australia and the National Archives of Australia.

Access depends on the geographic location of the imagery and the time frame it was captured. E.g, NSW LPI and/or GA would be the agencies to inquiry with if you are looking for imagery acquired over a region in NSW in 2010.

If it is imagery from between 1948 – 1988 then the National Archives of Australia would be the place to inquire.

Formats

Aerial photographic products are generally available in digital format - in all common image formats

Contact prints (from the whole photo)

Enlargements to a specific scale - eg 1:50 000; or by ratio, eg 2x, 4x (from the whole photo or part of it)

Diapositives - transparencies on stable based film

Photos taken on colour film can be reproduced as black and white

Photo mosaics involve joining together several aerial photos to form a single non-rectified image. Generally, the mosaic is re-photographed and enlarged to your specifications. This enables large areas to be covered by one image similar to a satellite image

Orthophotos are photo mosaics with some text annotation, over selected areas

Prints may be ordered individually or in blocks to give either plain or stereoscopic cover

Both black and white and colour photos can be scanned and provided at 150, 300 and 600 dpi in a variety of formats

Key Users

Federal, State and Territory Government Departments, industry and research communities.

Version

1.0 Draft for Consultation

Roadmap for Imagery

Purpose:

The roadmap outlines the development goals for the following three years, for all national foundation datasets within each theme. The goals are to be achieved in order to meet the defined end-state for the theme.

Owner:

Details:

Goals are owned by the theme sponsor to achieve within the FSDF governance framework

Goals are designated as funded/unfunded

The roadmap is approved by ANZLIC annually

The roadmap will be referenced as a benchmark in work plans and updates to ANZLIC

The roadmap is updated annually or on a major change as required

Notes:

1. The roadmaps (and goals) are agreed by ANZLIC and FSDF sponsors. An unfunded goal indicates that the sponsor is actively seeking to resolve the funding issue. Where this cannot be resolved the sponsor may elevate the issue for the attention of ANZLIC.

2. Dataset custodians are identified in the Dataset Profiles available on this website and their role in the delivery of the roadmaps is critical. State/Territory jurisdictions are also integral to the implementation of the roadmaps.

3. Engagement with custodians and/or jurisdictions in the FSDF and roadmaps is an ongoing process through 2015.